23. The Death of Gothmog – say it aint so!

Aragorn and Gimli have made it Pelennor, (don’t know where Legolas got to), but, oh no, a wounded Eowyn is nearby trying to crawl away from a not quite so wounded Gothmog who is out to get her. The good guys must fight through a bunch of Orcs and save Eowyn before she gets done in.

For this one I have: Gothmog (move rate reduced to 3″, has only 1 might) plus 12 Orcs

Sai has: Aragorn (Strider version) and Gimli. Also Eowyn, who starts prone, can never get up, and has no Might.

Eowyn is all alone close to one end of the 2 foot board, with Gothmog starting 6″ away in the centre of the board. Aragron and Gimli start on the edge opposite Eowyn, and have to get across the board (smashing through or avoiding the 12 Orcs trying to stop them) to save her. The Orcs deploy within 6″ from the Good heroes board edge. Gothmog, or Eowyn, must die!

So I eyed up the layout for this one and I reckoned that there was an even chance of Gothmog catching up with and finishing off Eowyn before he got blatted by the two awesome guys. A lot depended on me holding up those two for a turn or two to make sure of it. I had, as always, forgotten to take account of the fact that Heroic Combats lead to double moving heroes.

So I scattered my 12 Orcs widely across the board. As Sai put it, it looked like a Blood Bowl setup.

Sai then setup Aragorn and Gimli towards one side, hoping to take half my Orcs out of the fight. I’d have to keep shoving Orcs in their face to stand a chance…

Turn1, Eowyn crawled 1″, whilst Gothmog staggered 3″; then I realised that he could have probably done a Heroic March (hobble) and got closer. Not to worry, there was an angle to the movements that meant the distance has shrunk fast enough.

Aragorn and Gimli crashed into a few Orcs on a flank, and with Heroic Combats declared, ready to get an extra move out of it and bear down on Gothmog. Except… they didn’t. They lost their fights and took a wound or two each! A handful of Orcs had managed to slow em down.

Turn 2, Gothmog was still convinced he was going to get caught so he burnt his one might to get a Heroic Move charge on Eowyn. Meanwhile, Some other Orc lads showed up to try and rugby tackle the two mighty heroes long enough to keep Gothmog out of danger. They did better than that. In the ensuing fights, Aragorn fluffed and died. Gimli got rolled around as well but survived it.

Unfortunately, Eowyn did not fare well, Gothmog won the fight, and as she was prone, she was trapped, and got smashed up. Win to Evil! GOTHMOG LIVES….